šø Just Who You Are ā A Songwriterās Journey Through Rhyme and Time
By Timothy Bernard Cooney
Before I knew what a songwriter was, I was already becoming one.
I didnāt grow up with a silver spoon or a studio in my garage. What I had was a damp basement, an early reel-to-reel I received on Christmas when I was nine, and a hunger to understand the world around me. The sound of a needle dropping onto vinyl felt like the truth. The voices that came out of our familyās radioāDylan, The Beatles, Cat Stevens, Elton John, Carol King, Joni Mitchell, James Taylorāfelt like my first real teachers.
And more than anything else, they helped me survive.
š¶ Tim Cooney | SunTurtle Studios ššØ
Tim Cooneyās music seamlessly blends soulful storytelling with melodies that resonate with the human experience. His songs reflect a lifetime of experiences, seamlessly weaving folk-rock, indie, and Americana influences into a unique sonic tapestry. Each track resonates with raw emotion, inviting listeners to reflect, heal, and celebrate the winding paths of life. From poignant ballads to uplifting anthems, Timās artistry captures reinvention, resilience, and the beauty of starting over. Based in California and backed by SunTurtle Studios, his sound draws from deep roots in family, love, and creative exploration. Expect heartfelt lyrics, captivating acoustic textures, and an authentic voice that lingers long after the last chord fades. Whether youāre looking for music that tells a story or simply lifts your spirit, Tim Cooneyās catalog on SoundCloud offers a soulful escape. ššø #TimCooneyMusic #FolkRock
šµ This Weekās Songs
These three songsāāAcorn Sprout,ā āJust Who You Are,ā and āAnother Decadeāāare not just songs. Theyāre scenes. Prayers. Pages from the memoir I didnāt know I was writing.
š Listen to "Acorn Sprout" Written for my children
š Listen to "Just Who You Are" Written for me
š Listen to "Another Decade" Written for you
šµ [Listen to all my tracks on SoundCloud] (https://soundcloud.com/timcooney-22)
My SoundCloud page features decades of songs Iāve written, as well as hundreds of covers.
Bonus Track: Folk Singer
š± āAcorn Sproutā ā Growing in Stillness
This is a song about finding your roots. It may sound like a children's song on first listenāsimple, catchy, whimsical. But the truth underneath is anything but childlike. I wrote it for my children so they could see themselves growing like a tree, trying to find themselves in the person they are.
āThe summer sun it felt so fine / So I set down my roots, gonna make this place mine.ā
Thatās what Iāve done, again and again, through lifeās fires and droughts. Set down roots.
When I wrote this, I was reflecting on fatherhood, aging, and the cycles that kept bringing me back to love. It echoes a line from The Journeyman:
āI started my first studio in a damp, basement roomā¦ It was my sanctuary in our chaotic house. No one would venture in there but me.ā
That room was my sanctuary, where I had my record player, reel-to-reel tape recorder, and my dreams. My first little corner of the world where I could grow into myself in peace. Listening to the lyrics of the now classic songs written by teenagers and young people trying to find their voice.
And the chorus?
āIām just a tree, and thatās alright with meā¦ā
It's not a resignation. Its arrival. Itās standing tall with the bark you've earned on the bluff overlooking your future. In a place youāre rooted.
Acorn Sprout
Written by Tim Cooney 2022
I started out as an acorn sprout The spring came along and I poked my head out The summer sun it felt so fine So I set down my roots, gonna make this place mine Iām just a tree, Thatās all Iāll ever be I am just a tree Thatās my reality I am just a tree, and thatās alright with me ā oh yeah I Grew a couple branches out on my side A real good place for them birds to hide The kids like to play all up in my shade I thought to myself, I got it made Iām just a tree, Thatās all Iāll ever be I am just a tree Thatās my reality I am just a tree, and thatās alright with me ā oh yeah The next ten years went by so fast The present now will soon be the past I kept on growing and I got so tall Then came the drought and I hit the wall Iām just a tree, Thatās all Iāll ever be I am just a tree Thatās my reality I am just a tree, and thatās alright with me ā oh yeah The fires rip through from year to year But I stay safe way up here I was lucky, my roots run deep I pray to God my soul to keep Iām just a tree, Thatās all Iāll ever be I am just a tree Thatās my reality I am just a tree, and thatās alright with me ā oh yeah Being a tree is sometimes rough But you canāt beat the view from on top of this bluff Yeah Iām planted here and I canāt go far But I found my place under these stars Iām just a tree, Thatās all Iāll ever be I am just a tree Thatās my reality I am just a tree, and thatās alright with me ā oh yeah Now Iām the biggest tree in all the land From an acorn sprout in the sand And the people come from near and far Just to see me ā Iām a rock and roll star But Iām still a tree, Thatās all Iāll ever be I am just a tree Thatās my reality I am just a tree, and thatās alright with me ā oh yeah
š„ āJust Who You Areā ā Looking into the Mirror and Breaking the Chains
This one hits harder.
Itās for the boy I used to beāthe one who stayed quiet for too long. A boy, now a man who thought blending in was safer than standing tall in my truth.
āBreak out of that prison cell / The scars you bear, you wear them wellā¦ā
The truth is, most of us walk around with invisible chainsāexpectations, shame, roles we never agreed to play. āJust Who You Areā is the song I wish someone had written for me when I was 19, or 29ā¦ or even 49. I wrote this song on a red-eye flight from San Diego to Boston, returning from yet another conference when I was fifty. I was very successful and had built a beautiful family and life on Cape Cod, but something was missing. Perhaps you have felt the same way at times, just wishing to see yourself and that others would see you not for what you are, but for who you are.
It connects directly to a moment in the memoir when I finally began to take the stage of my own life: Seeing myself for the first time as the man I was, not just how others saw me.
āThe labels they gave me never fit. The only thing that ever felt true was musicāand the sound of my voice learning to listen to itself.ā
You canāt fake freedom. But you can fight for it. This song is part of that fight.
Just Who You Are
Written by Tim Cooney 2013
You came to life in the usual way You had no voice, you had no say You were like a ball of clay But that's not who you are today When you grew up there was no silver spoon You grew up fast and you felt marooned You were out on a limb too far But that's who you were and not who you are Not who you are Be just who you are Just who you are Be who you are Who you are Don't waste your time playing a part Be yourself, take a shot Don't be afraid of what they say People do that when they lose their way They lose their way.... Don't lose your way... Don't lose your way Be who you are Just who you are Be just who you are Just who you are Break out of that prison cell The scars you bear you were them well Don't let them say you won't go far because inside, you know just who you are Just who you are... Be who you are... Just who you are Just who you are Be just who you are Who you are It's not easy being yourself It's even harder being someone else When you're half you can't be whole So look into the depth of your soul Down to your sole.... I know it sounds simple, but it's true It's not what you say but what you do Find your way back to your star Let the world see just who you are Who you are Be who you are That's just who you are Just who you are Be just who you are Just who you are
š°ļø āAnother Decadeā ā Watching the World Unfold Through a Guitar and a Song
This song is a history book written in chorus.
āAnother decade / Just passing through / Another decade / What will we doā¦ā
I was born in 1961. That means Iāve lived through every moment this song mentions. The Kennedy assassination. The Beatles. Vietnam. Watergate. Lennonās death. Cobain. The rise and fall of hope, again and again.
The verses trace the decades of my life through the music that scored them:
āThen came the Beatles / And the Rolling Stones / A British invasion, with / Guitars and microphones.ā
But itās more than nostalgia. Itās a lament. A prayer. A warning. A reminder that artāreal artācomes from the tension between what is and what could be.
From The Journeyman, I wrote:
āWhen I was ten years old, the album Dark Side of the Moon came out and I had it on my turntable for my entire teenage experienceā¦ I was lying on my bed, with my headphones on, letting those notes take me someplace better, a place unseen.ā
Music was never just background noise. It was survival. It was a revolution. It was a revelation.
And in the 1970s, especially, it had a profound impact on me.
āWe all felt the world shift that decade. It was sex, it was protest, it was rage, it was love. I learned how to play a guitar, how to make a girl smile, and how to get lost in a record sleeve for hours.ā
Another Decade
Written by Tim Cooney 2017
Now I was born in 61 The year of the Kennedysā My native sons They filled our heads With visions and dreams A new generation Things are never what they seem When a bullet rang out In the Texas heat Poor Jack lay dead Right there in the Dallas Street Another decade Just Passing through Another decade What will we do Another decade Just passing by More questions than answers Don't ask me why Then came the Beatles And the Rolling Stones A British invasion, with Guitars and microphones And the civil rights movement Was having it's say But that all ended When someone shot MLK So students were marching They couldn't wait Then Nixon shot four dead At Ohio state Another decade Just Passing through Another decade what will we do Another decade Just passing by More questions than answers Don't ask me why The seventies They started late Then the Beatles broke up Yoko Ono sealed their fate The decade dragged on There was nothing new When we heard Keith Moon died from the Who All the rockers They were at a loss Then time magazine Introduced us to the Boss Another decade Just Passing through Another decade What will we do Another decade Just passing by More questions than answers Don't ask me why Well the Eighties began with a blow Why these things happen, I donāt think weāll ever know On Monday Night Football Howard Cosell said I hate to tell you but John Lennon he's dead The eighties flew by With little fan fair Except for MTV and Madonna And all that great big hair But the music kept playing When the decade was through They kept on rocking Itās all we could do Another decade Just Passing through Another decade What will we do Another decade Just passing by More questions than answers Just don't ask me why As the nineties began It was all Teen Spirit A band from Seattle You just had to hear it We found Nirvana But it was too late That Rock and Roll curse It Just wouldnāt wait Another decade Just Passing through Another decade What will we do Another decade Just passing by Who will be the next one That has to die
šø Becoming the Man the Boy Dreamed Of
I donāt take it for granted that Iām still here searching and finding my voice in the songs I write. I still want to write and explore, from my tape recorder to the tools of AI, utilizing technology that enables me to produce my music in a whole new way. I revisit my lyrics through AI production tools and hear them in a way I could only have dreamed of in the past. The new tracks you hear on my SoundCloud and Spotify channels are my songs, but they were produced using AI tools. In the past, I would have had to assemble a band and spend days in a recording studio, spending thousands of dollars to get the results I can now get in hours. Iāve embraced the tools available to me now, just as I begged my parents for a reel-to-reel tape recorder in 1969, all to help me find my voice and write what I feel so I can share it with you.
I write songs like I wrote my bookāwith my whole heart, and the soundtrack proves that with every word.
āThe greatest journey isnāt a destination, itās a journey into your soul. To sing out loud even when no one is listening.ā
That line from The Journeyman wasnāt just a metaphor. It was my life.
šø Archive: Roots of a Songwriter
Christmas 1969: Age 8, (Tim bottom right), with our first toy instruments. The following year, my father bought me a reel-to-reel tape recorder, allowing me to record songs from the radio and begin my musical journey.
My grandson Mason, age 6, holding his first guitar like it was the Holy Grail
(My Acorn Sprout) 2024
Tim in high school, long hair, jean jacket, garage band dreams 1976 Age 15
On the sailboat Amy 1982 Guitar in hand age 21
In the studio with Turtleback 2010 age 45
Performing at the First Night festivities, New Yearās 2015, Sandwich, Massachusetts Age 54
Performing on statge with The SunTurtles 2023 Novato Californis. age 62
Every song I write now carries all these moments. Along with the story of my struggle to find my voice.
Thatās the story of The Journeyman!
š§ Final Thoughts: Sing Anyway
If youāre reading this and wondering if itās too late for your voice, your art, your truthālet me tell you something:
Itās never too late to begin again. The world needs your story.
Write it. Sing it. Shout it. Whisper it.
But donāt stay silent. Not one more day.
š Connect With Me
I would greatly appreciate all your comments. If you are an agent or wish to discuss collaborations, please email me directly at timcooney@sunturtlestudio.com. I am actively seeking representation for my Memoir, The Journeyman.
https://www.sunturtlestudio.com/
https://www.youtube.com/@timcooneysunturtlestudios
Thank you for walking this road with me.
Sail on, my friends, sail on!
āTim
Love this chronicle and description of your timely use of every instrument at your disposal to tell your stories . You were always a pioneer that way little brother. Proud of what you have done here. I hope some of these songs can be recorded and produced by bigger voices. That would be a dream come true for you Tim. AI has curated and engineered these arrangements into really good songs from your words and music. Itās truly amazing! Bravo! And thanks for sharing your process too. Keep journaling , it inspires me to do the same.